


Hey, remember me?

by LBibliophile



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: (despite being one of the characters not mentioned...), Ambiguous/Open Ending, Amnesia, Avengers: Endgame, Based on a Tumblr Post, Bingo Fill, Gen, Outline/Headcanon Format, Post-snap, Time Travel, Tony Stark Bingo 2019, but not so much with the full trailer, compliant with the teaser trailers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 12:46:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18282659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LBibliophile/pseuds/LBibliophile
Summary: The Snap didn’t just kill half of all life, it erased it from existence; first the physical form, then their more intangible presence.For those who remain, it’s hard to maintain the drive to fix things when you don’t remember what you’re missing…Written for the Tony Stark Bingo 2019, A4 - Amnesia





	Hey, remember me?

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written after the Endgame teaser trailers, but before the full trailer came out. So looking a bit less likely to match actual canon.  
> Expanded from my response to a Tumblr [post](https://lbibliophile-mcu.tumblr.com/post/182431875161/ok-so-in-infinity-war-everyone-didnt-just-fade-to).

When the Snap first occurs, everyone is in shock. They lost; and they paid the price. (And the price was so painfully personal, for each of them.) But they are superheroes, and the loss of a loved one (or two, or three, or so, so many) is only fuel. They are determined to find a way to undo this.

But with half the population gone, there’s so _much_ that that needs fixing. First the direct aftermath of the battle in Wakanda itself. Then all the crashes and other accidents caused when people just _vanished_ into Dust. (The death toll quickly climbs to far greater than half the population. There are so many bodies; too many, but also too few.) Then, as time limps on, there are the more mundane problems. Lack of trained personnel, medical and mechanical; holes systems of governance, of production, of distribution. (How did they never realise just how _fragile_ their society is? Thanos claimed to be saving them, but instead he doomed them twice over.) And all that is without including those who decide to actively take advantage of the chaos.

They know they should focus on finding a solution, but there are no leads, and always another problem to fix in the meantime. (Planning means remembering, which means feeling - the pain, but also the helplessness and despair. So much safer to focus on good they can actually achieve.)

And gradually, without even realising it, they forget what they are looking for. They forget that they should be looking at all. Years pass and they finish rebuilding and they forget what they have lost.

 

* * *

 

This is the world Scott finds himself in. For him, it’s only been hours (or maybe days, it’s hard to tell) since he was stranded in the Quantum Realm (Wow, those time vortexes are really something).

When he makes it back to the real world and tracks down the Avengers (or rather, what’s left of them), he’s not sure what shocks him more: that his friends have aged a decade, or that half of them are missing, or that no-one seems to have noticed. (There are no gaps, no signs of mourning, where the Dusted should be. People look  at him blankly when he mentions their names.)

Thankfully, the remaining Avengers do remember _him_. (He was never a proper Avenger, not quite, but they know him and they are willing to trust him, at least to an extent.) And maybe a part of them can feel that something is missing, because they listen when he tries to convince them that something is wrong. (His story is no worse than wormholes and aliens over New York, why not this too?)

They take a leap of faith. Maybe spending so long in the Quantum Realm has addled Scott’s brain, but maybe he is right. Just maybe, they had friends and family and loved ones whom they were unable to save, and this is their chance to put things right. (They could have that again.)

After all, the whole point of the Avengers is to fight the battles no-one else can.

They will find a way to undo whatever the Snap did; they will get them back. The missing Avengers. Wakanda’s King. Steve’s friend. Clint’s family. His… his… There was someone on the other end of the radio in the Quantum Realm. Wasn’t there? He can’t remember…


End file.
